Farm animals, as for example pigs and poultry, are both animals that are routinely supplemented with feed enzymes to increase feed utilization.
Phytases for example are commonly used feed enzymes for monogastric animals to improve nutritive value of animal feed and to decrease the supplementation of phosphorous to feedstuff thus reducing the environmental pollution in areas with intensive livestock production.
As for any feed enzyme, the amount of product generated (here the phosphorous) is a function of the substrate concentration (here the phytate), the enzymatic activity, and the amount of time given to the enzyme to catalyse the reaction, it is still the need to optimize feed utilisation and enzyme activity by modifying enzyme formulation or by developing new types of enzymes.
Short Description of the Technical Background
Members of the genus Lactobacillus but also other bacteria, in particular members of the Bacillus genus, are often found in the gastrointestinal tract of birds and mammals. For bacteria to be able to colonize this open flow environment, adhesion to the mucosa is considered to be a prerequisite. The epithelial cells of the intestine are covered by a protective layer of mucus, which is a complex mixture of glycoproteins and glycolipids with the large glycoprotein mucin being the main component. Bacteria colonizing the mucosa can be found both in the mucus layer and adhering to the epithelial cells. In most cases, the adhesion has been reported to be mediated by proteins, but saccharide moieties on the cell surface of lactobacilli have also been described to interact with components of the mucosa. Summarizing the present knowledge, it is known, that the ability of microbial strains to adhere to gastrointestinal components is based on their affinity to gastrointestinal mucus or its main component mucin and to collagens that are trapped into the mucus by shedding of the enterocytes or accessible when epithelium is damaged. It also known that that natural gut bacteria (including members of the Bacillus genus) are able to form biofilms and to adhere to epithelial cells, persist in the gut significantly longer than bacteria not able to generate biofilms. Therefore, the self-produced extracellular biofilm matrix plays also an essential role for the ability of microbial strains to adhere to gastrointestinal components
Mucus-binding proteins have been characterized mainly in Lactobacilli. It is known that a gene from Lactobacillis reuteri 1063 encodes a cell-surface protein designated Mub, that adheres to mucus components. Mub is a large multi-domain protein (357 kDa) covalently attached to the cell surface as mucin-binding domain (MucBP, Pfam06458).
Collagen-binding domains can be divided into two categories:                Cna type proteins, which archetype is the protein A from Staphylococcus aureus (Pfam05738), mediate bacterial adhesion to collagens        CBD domains, which are part of clostridial collagenases.        
TasA is a major protein component of the biofilm produced by members of the Bacillus genus. TasA has been detected in association with both the EPS (extracellular polymeric substance) and spores, and is thought to be required for surface adhesion.